In mid-August, we took a weekend trip towards Athabasca. First stop was Long Lake Provincial Park just south of Boyle. I was here a few years ago late in the season and the weather was crap. By contrast, we had an amazing day this time.
When you enter the park, you drop down a long hill and then go right to the day-use areas. The first day-use area has a boat launch (with dock) and pit toilets. The second day-use area has a dock, a beach, flush toilets, boat rentals, and a concession. We opted for the second day-use area.
The dock was fine but I'd rather launch from a beach. It is about a 100m carry from the parking lot to the beach down a gentle grassy slope. We were there at 10 am on a Saturday morning and it was dead (we were the only car in the lot).
The beach was nice, with clean water, a gentle slope, and a marked swimming area. By the time we got back (2ish), the beach was full and hopping.
There was a bit of a southeast wind and and I wanted to go south so we cut across to the eastern shore to get out of the worst of the waves.
Just south of the launch on both sides are small bays which are interesting to explore. This is the eastern bay.
The eastern shore starts out a reeds with a rocky shore line and aspen in behind.
The further south you go, the boggier the shoreline gets.
It took us about 2 hours to paddle the 8 or 9 km to the south end into a gentle wind. There were a few boats down here fishing and most were pretty good about keeping their distance and cutting their speed as they passed us.
In the southeast corner, there was a tiny, sandy beach where a creek comes in. We were happy to have a spot to get out and stretch. This was the only spot on the eastern shore where getting out was easy.
The south end of the lake was a swamp, although pretty. It looked like there was a creek but, if so, it was too weedy to both with.
The western shore was slightly less swampy and there were a couple of places you could get out if you needed to. We also saw a bear (disappeared into brush before I could get a shot).
We had a good tail wind back and probably did 20 km that day (a bit longer than our usual). The wind and the boats both increased as the afternoon went on. Overall, a very nice paddle and a nice lake. The provincial campground looked very busy (they have a separate beach and boat launch).
That evening, we took a quick look at
Jackfish Lake, just northeast of Athabasca. This was a pretty secluded county campground, with a boat launch (there was a box for money and a price list for day use but no forms or sign it was enforced). The water was pretty murky.
The lake runs north-south and is basically this all the way around. Probably an interesting paddle, especially during nesting season.
We decided to skip it and try out luck at Chump Lake, the next day.
